Publications

An effective way to pass wealth to future generations is through the use of a Dynasty Trust. A Dynasty Trust (sometimes also referred to as a Generation-Skipping Trust), is an irrevocable trust that continues for as long as the applicable state law allows. In addition to using your federal gift tax exemption to fund a […]

Making lifetime gifts now can ensure optimal use of the historically high federal transfer tax exemptions while they are still available. Under current law, the increased estate and gift tax exemption ($13.61 million per person, or $27.22 million for married couples) will go back to the 2017 amounts ($5.49 million per person, or $10.98 million […]

While historically high federal transfer tax exemptions remain in effect, the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (“SLAT”) remains one of the most effective planning techniques for married clients. A SLAT is an irrevocable trust where the spouse is a permitted beneficiary. It allows married clients to take advantage of the high gift tax exemption amount while […]

Property transferred to a grantor trust (also known as an “intentionally defective grantor trust,” or “IDGT”) is excluded from the value of the grantor’s estate for estate tax purposes at death, but included as part of the grantor’s taxable income during life. This is, in fact, advantageous because payment of the trust’s income tax will […]

Summer 2021 For the charitably inclined, transferring assets during life or at death to a public charity, private foundation and donor-advised fund is an excellent strategy to give back in a tax efficient way. Charitable giving remains a key consideration in a client’s overall estate plan, as distributions from a trust or directly to a […]

Wiggin and Dana and the Wiggin Opportunity Initiative committee have released the first annual WOI Newsletter. In order to celebrate the program’s successful first year, the newsletter highlights stories from select WOI clients, Strategic Partners and the contributions of various attorneys. To read the newsletter, click the PDF below.

Starting October 1, 2021, Connecticut will join a small but growing number of states where employers are now specifically prohibited from inquiring about a prospective employee’s age on the initial employment application, including indirect questions which are designed or which tend to elicit age information. Connecticut law already prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and […]

New Executive Order On August 9, 2021, President Biden expanded the scope of Executive Order 13405 regarding U.S. financial sanctions in connection with Belarus. The sanctions remain list-based, not country-based, which means the prohibitions only extend to parties that the U.S. government designates and any entities in which designated parties directly or indirectly maintain at […]

Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel co-authored a piece for the Pricing Conduct Committee of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section. The article addresses their successful efforts on behalf of their client, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, Inc., to defend the constitutionality of certain Connecticut liquor pricing laws through the […]

Governor Ned Lamont recently signed into law Public Act 21-9, “An Act Concerning Telehealth” (the “Act”), extending the relaxed telehealth provisions that were previously enacted via executive orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act took effect on May 10, 2021 and will expire on June 30, 2023. The Governor had previously signed into […]

On June 23, Governor Lamont signed into effect sweeping legislation legalizing recreational marijuana in Connecticut. The legislation made the possession and use of cannabis legal for adults, and contains certain provisions regarding what actions employers may take with regard to employees’ use of recreational cannabis, including drug testing and when an adverse employment action may be […]

Partners David Ring and Tahlia Townsend have co-authored an article published in the World ECR Special Report, The China Question. The article is titled “Growing Pressure on U.S. Universities to Police Against Chinese Influence” and discusses the new set of challenges that have arisen from the United States’ whole-of-government approach to countering the perceived threat […]

Since March 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of State (DOS), and Department of Labor (DOL) have issued and/or revised a significant number of rules and policies in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Below is a roundup of the current rules/policies covering the major areas of global mobility impacted by COVID-19. International […]

Partner Tahlia Townsend has written, “The Rising Tide of Maritime Financial Sanctions Risk,” which was recently published in Benedict’s Maritime Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 2, Second Quarter 2021. The article addresses the rapidly increasing regulatory risk to the U.S. and global maritime community in relation to U.S. economic sanctions, why the maritime community should be […]

Greetings, Court Fans! We trust you enjoyed a festive Fourth, but we all know summer can’t truly begin until the Supreme Court term comes to an end. The Nine closed up shop on Friday after their “clean-up conference,” granting cert in 10 new cases, including Carson v. Makin (No. 20-1088), a sort of sequel to […]

Let’s get right to it… At issue in Brnovich v. DNC were two restrictions in Arizona’s otherwise fairly permissive voting laws. First, some counties do not count in-person ballots cast on election day if they are cast in the wrong precinct. Second, mail-in ballots can be collected only by an election official or mail carrier, […]

Greetings, Court Fans! In the final day of OT20, the Court handed down its two biggest decisions of the term: In Brnovich v. Arizona (No. 19-1257), the Court held (in a 6-3 decision by Justice Alito, with Justice Kagan leading the dissent), that two of Arizona’s recently enacted voting restrictions do not violate Section 2 […]

On June 16, 2021, Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Public Act No. 21-55, An Act Strengthening the Bills of Rights for Long-Term Care Residents and Authorizing the Use of Resident Technology for Virtual Visitation and Virtual Monitoring (“PA 21-55”). Connecticut now joins certain states across the county that have enacted statutes or regulations on […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Maybe The Nine are aware that President Biden’s SCOTUS-reform commission is meeting next week, or maybe they’re just not the political animals they’ve been made out to be, but the Js finished out the (presumably) penultimate week of OT20 with a trio of decisions revealing notable cross-aisle collaborations: In Yellen v. Confederated […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Four new opinions today, including the case of the cussing cheerleader, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (No. 20-255), where the Court held (8-1) that, while schools may sometimes have a special interest in regulating some types of off-campus speech, those interests were insufficient to justify disciplining B.L, who posted vulgar Snapchat […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Yesterday, in the first of three announcements scheduled for this week, the Court handed down three decisions: In NCAA v. Alston (No. 20-512), the Court unanimously affirmed a lower-court decision enjoining the NCAA from restricting member colleges from providing education-related benefits (like free laptops and paid internships) to athletes. In United States […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Some big decisions this week as The Nine turn into the final stretch. Yesterday, the Court issued hotly anticipated decisions in California v. Texas (No. 19-840), dismissing the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act on standing grounds, and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (No. 19- 123), holding that Philadelphia violated the […]

Beginning October 1, 2021, Connecticut will join California, Maryland, and Washington in requiring employers with at least one employee to disclose the wage range for vacant positions to applicants and existing employees. The new law, “An Act Concerning the Disclosure of Salary Range for a Vacant Position,” also amends existing law to require employers to provide […]

Dear Wiggin and Dana Alumni, Greetings to all of our Wiggin and Dana Alumni across the country!  Enclosed please find an electronic copy of Wiggin and Dana’s Fall 2020 Newsletter.  A printed version will be sent out by mail in the next couple of weeks.  As a reminder, you can continue to keep up with […]

Greetings, Court Fans! This morning, the Court continued its march toward the end of the OT2020 term, issuing its decision in Borden v. United States (No. 19-5410). There, a five-justice majority held that a criminal offense with a mens rea of recklessness does not satisfy the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause. That leaves 20 […]

The first nationwide emergency workplace safety rule, requiring health-care employers to protect workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19 in settings where people with COVID-19 are reasonably expected to be present, has been published on OSHA’s website.  The emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) released Thursday applies only in the health-care sector and will be supplemented by voluntary […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Three more opinions this week, as The Nine continue to chip away at OT20’s remaining backlog. Most notably, in Van Buren v. United States (No. 19-783), an interesting mix (no scare-quotes this time, as it actually is a unique line-up) led by Justice Barrett concluded that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act […]

EEOC Updates Guidance Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination Incentives and Reasonable Accommodations The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws” guidance document on May 28, 2021, providing clarity and welcome guidance for employers on a number of vaccination issues. As […]

On May 17, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the establishment of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, an interagency task force created to “use every available federal tool—including criminal, civil, and administrative actions—to combat and prevent COVID-19 related fraud.”[1]  Given the magnitude of the COVID-19 relief programs, this Task Force has its work […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Three new decisions this week, each unanimous. First, in United States v. Palomar-Santiago (No. 20-437), the Court held that defendants charged with unlawfully reentering the United States following an order of removal can collaterally attack the validity of the prior removal order only when three statutory prerequisites are met, rejecting the Ninth […]